Beneath all this ignorance there is a heart, as sympathetic, in its
way, as that of any educated man. It is no unusual sight to see a
man walk along with a coffin on his head, from which is visible the
remains of some child. In an instant all the men in the gutters, on the
walks, or in the doorways, have their hats off, and remain bare-headed
until the sad procession is far away. The pall-bearer, if such he may
be called, dodges in and out among the carriages, burros and wagons,
which fill the street. The drivers lift their hats, but the silent
bearer--generally the father--moves along unmindful of all. Funeral
cars meet with the same respect.
In passing along where a new building was being erected, attention was
attracted to the body of a laborer who had fallen from the building.
A white cloth covered all of the body except his sandaled feet. "The
Virgin rest his soul;" "Virgin Mother grant him grace," were the
prayers of his kind as the policeman commanded his body to be carried
away. These little scenes prove they are not brutes, that they are a
little better than some intelligent people would have you believe.
The meat express does not, by any means, serve to make the meat, more
palatable. Generally an old mule or horse that has reached its second
childhood serves for the express. A long, iron rod, from which hooks
project, is fastened on the back of the beast by means of straps. The
meat is hung on these hooks, where it is exposed to the mud and dirt
of the streets as well as the hair of the animal. Men with two large
baskets, one in front, one behind, filled with the refuse of meat,
follow near by. If they wear trousers they have them rolled up high so
the blood from the dripping meat will not soil them, but run down their
bare legs and be absorbed in the sand. It is asserted that the poor do
not allow this mixture in the basket to go to waste, but are as glad to
get it as we are to get sirloin steak.
Men with cages of fowls, baskets of eggs and bushels of roots and
charcoal, come from the mountain in droves of from twenty-five to
fifty, carrying packs which average three hundred pounds.
One form of politeness here is, that when complimenting or observing
anything that belongs to a native, they will reply: "It is yours." That
it means nothing but politeness some are slow to learn. "My house is
yours; you have but to command me," said the hotel-keeper on the day
of our arrival; but he made no move to vacate. A "greeny" from the
States who was working for the Mexican Central tested some beer that
was on its way to the city. "That is good beer," he remarked to the
express man. "_Si, senor!_ It is yours," was the reply. Mr. Green was
elated, and trudged off home with the keg, much to the consternation
and distress of the poor express man, who was compelled to pay out of
his own purse for his politeness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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